The Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds

April 25, 2007

Public comment on proposed fee increase

Filed under: Park Changes — The Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds, Inc. @ 12:39 pm

A fee increase for National Park Service (NPS) units nationwide has been proposed by the Federal government. At Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, the proposed increase would be from $3 per person aged 16 and up to $7 per person for the entrance fee (good for a week), and the annual family park pass would increase in cost from $15 to $30. The park held two public meetings on April 18 and 19. If you couldn’t attend or want to make sure your comment in received separately, the park and the Friends strongly encourage you to comment in writing to Superintendent Keith Payne. You may comment by email (keith_payne@nps.gov) or regular mail:

Keith Payne
P.O. Box 185
Florissant, CO 80816

All comments, along with the names and addresses of individual respondents, will be available for public review during regular business hours. Requests to withhold personal information will be honored to the extent allowable by law, and must be stated prominently at the beginning of your comment. All comments from organizations or businesses and individuals or officials who represent organizations or businesses will be available for inspection in their entirety. Commenting in writing ensures that the NPS will receive your individual opinion clearly, as the public meetings can only be summarized.

Fee money collected under the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (FLREA) is used for a wide variety of projects, ranging from trail maintenance to funding scientific research. At Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, 100% of visitor fee money stays within the park and goes towards projects such as

  • Construction of an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)-accessible theater in the visitor center to show the park’s new film (2007, underway).
  • Stabilization of the historic Hornbek house (2007, underway).
  • Research projects in the paleontology division, including partial funding for doctoral student Mary Ellen Benson’s work on Florissant diatoms and a comparative study of Florissant’s Eocene plants with modern vegetation in California (underway).
  • Reconstruction of the ADA-compliant Ponderosa Loop Trail (2006).
  • Comparative study of possible consolidants to protect the fossil stumps from weathering and erosion (2005).

For more information about the proposed fee increase or FLREA, please call the Monument at (719) 748-3253. You are welcome (and encouraged) to discuss the fee increase in the comments to the post, but formal comments must be sent to Superintendent Payne by email or regular mail.

April 4, 2007

Spring wildlife sightings

Filed under: Biology, Ecology, Wildlife — The Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds, Inc. @ 11:39 am

While I was driving to the Monument the other morning I saw a coyote cross the road in front of my car, intent on its business. This might not be exciting for many people, but it was the first time I had seen a coyote in the wild. Like its smaller cousin the fox, the coyote is an amazingly adaptable animal.

Coyote in the snowAlthough the plants are still brown in the Florissant valley, spring is a great time to visit the Monument. Cool, sunny weather is perfect for hiking, and many animals are emerging from winter rest, including the Richardson’s ground squirrel (which looks like a small prairie dog) and the black, tassel-eared Abert’s squirrel. Rodents venturing aboveground also means increased raptor activity. Red-tailed hawks are the most common raptor at the park, but as summer approaches you might see golden eagles as well.

Elk at Yellowstone National ParkAmerican elk (wapiti) are still around, particularly at the south end of the park. To improve your chances of sighting elk, drive along Lower Twin Rock Road (the first left after you pass the visitor center turnoff driving south) at dawn or dusk. Elk often feed in the fields next to the road.

The Monument offers over 14 miles of trails of varying difficulty. You can download a map from the park’s hiking webpage. The Ponderosa Loop, opened last fall, is a short self-guided loop trail through an open ponderosa pine forest, passing several fossil redwood stumps. Ponderosa Loop is accessible for regular wheelchairs and walkers and trail wheelchairs for adults and children are available at the visitor center for use on some of the main trails. Ask at the visitor center desk for more information about self-guided trails and hiking in the Monument.

-Melissa Barton

Photo Credits: NPS (coyote), PDPhoto.org/Jon Sullivan (elk at Yellowstone). Neither photo taken at Florissant. Click for larger images.

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